Once Upon a Life
by alyce.swan
Summary: Nate and Alex hate each other and must star as each other's love interests in Camp Rock's musical. Shane and Mitchie begin to feel that they're too different. And two little devils are plotting to break the couples apart. EDITED 7-24-10.
1. Off To the Wilderness

Alex smiled, relaxed. Finally. School was over! Flopping down onto her bed, she grabbed her iPod and stuffed the earphones into her ear.

Happily listening to Paramore, she flipped the pages of the closest magazine. Nearly half of the pages were ads, and half of the ads featured pictures of the Connect 3 in different poses. Not to mention the cover. Alex sighed. The Connect 3 were so full of themselves. Or at least Nate was.

Alex had heard Shane had an ego check last summer and fell in love. Apparently, Jason was just a ditz who loved birds. As Alex skimmed a page of lip gloss colors, bored, the door suddenly burst open.

"Guess what, Alex? I found the spinach, cheese, and raisin soup I made two months ago!" Max declared triumphantly, holding up a bowl of foul-looking green-ish stuff that emmitted a horrible odor.

Alex sighed again, irritated as she pinched her nose. "Thanks, I _really _needed to know that. Now get out of my room!" She threw a spork at him.

Max retreated out of the room, still looking victorious. Alex then heard a, "Dad Dad Dad! Guess what I found!"

Just as she finished another page of boredom, in walked Justin. "Guess what, Alex!" Justin announced, smirking.

Alex rolled her eyes and put the magazine down once again. "Doesn't anyone in this house ever knock?"

"Well the door was open, so I just assumed that-"

Alex cut him off with a wave of her hand before Justin started spazzing. "Whatever. Get to whatever unimportant, boring stuff you were going to say."

"I... W...ON...THE..." Justin said slowly, dragging out each letter.

"_Without!_ The theatrics."

"I WON THE PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS CONTEST! IT WAS SOOO COOL! I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO KNEW HOW MANY NEUTRONS UNUNQUADIUM HAD AND SPELLED IT CORRECTLY ALL IN TWO SECONDS! HA! BEAT THAT, DUMB LOSER!" And, promptly, Justin blew a raspberry and strutted out of the door.

"What was the point of that?" Alex wondered at her brother's antics before turning to the main article. It was -gasp!- about the Connect 3.

In big, bold, flashing letters on the first page said: "POPSTAR NATE GRAY **DUMPS** SUPERSTAR HANNAH MONTANA!" And right below that were two pictures. One of a blonde haired girl (Alex assumed it was Hannah) kissing a blond haired boy, and one of Nate and Hannah screaming at each other at what looked like Starbucks. Pfft, Alex thought. Who cares?

She turned to page two, and realized that there were nine pages to the whole article. How could there be nine pages worth of this stuff? On this page, there was a picture of Shane Gray and a cute brown-haired girl walking hand in hand. The girl was laughing and Shane was smiling. The caption read, "Shane and his Mystery Girl" In the text, there was an interview and Shane described the girl as "perfect, cute, and humorous." He said he first met her at camp in the kitchen room. She insulted him even though she was covered in flour. "I knew there was something special about her," he commented. How cute.

Just as Alex was about to turn her attention to page three, she was distracted by yet another distraction.

"Everybody, come look at this exciting brochure!" Theresa Russo called out from kitchen in their sub shop.

Alex groaned, annoyed. She shut off her iPod and rolled off her bed. "What now," she muttered and stormed down the staircase.

"Look look look! It's a brochure for this wonderful camp, Camp Rock! There's instrument classes, singing classes, and dancing classes! And at the end they have a big competition with fabulous prizes! You should go! And, there's supposed to be good food." Alex's mother exclaimed excitedly.

"Science competition!" Justin said right after his mom was done speaking, ducking his head and running upstairs.

"Too young!" Max excused himself and followed Justin.

Jerry and Theresa stared pointedly at Alex, who glared back with refusal in her eyes.

"No. Just- no."

"Come on Alex, you like singing, song writing, dancing, drumming? Please?" Her father pleaded.

"You'll meet new friends!" Her mother promised.

"No. Period." Alex stood firm.

Theresa and Jerry exchanged glances. "Two weeks off of chores and full payment for it?"

Alex contemplated it for about three seconds. "Three, and it's a deal."

"Fine, three. Now sign this form..." Her mother handed a sheet to Alex who sighed. _Off to the wilderness I go._

**_I hate swearing but I'll have to use some for the next chapter. Just a heads up if you're like, 8. _**

**_love, peace, alyce_**


	2. Messed Up

Shane flicked through channels on the brothers' huge TV. "Boring, commercial, boring, okay now that's weird, boring, commercial, idiotic, commercial, boring, boring, baby show, commercial, boring-!" When he flipped to the next station, a host was saying, "CONNECT THREE ROCK STAR NATE GRAY ACTS UP _AGAIN! _Details after the break!_" _Shane groaned. Not again!

"NATE! JASON! COME OVER HERE **NOW!**" Shane shouted.

The two ran over and jumped on the couch, Jason eating a bag of sunflower seeds (seriously, he was starting to eat like a bird now too) and Nate, who looked thoroughly annoyed.

"The snack that smiles back- GOLDFISH!" The ad finished on the TV.

Nate was frustrated. "You wanted us to see _that?"_

"No, just wait..." As the other two waited impatiently, never-ending commercials flashed on the TV. Finally, the screen returned to the lady-host.

"Exclusive footage reveals superstar Nate Gray swearing at the paparazzi and yelling at fans!" The footage showed Nate, shoving paparazzi and saying,

"GET OUT OF MY WAY, YOU DUMBASSES!"

The other clip revealed Nate saying, "You want my freakin' autograph? Have my freakin' autograph. Now get the hella out of here!" To a trio of disappointed looking fans. The screen switched back to the host.

"Is Nate going down the wrong path? What happened to the sweet guy we knew before? Is it the break-up with Hannah? How will- or will Nate _ever_ clean his act up? Now, on to Ang-" Shane powered off the TV and glowered at Nate.

"You can't do this to our reputation, dude. Last year it was me, and I admit that. What happened? You were cool until now. Now you're the presses' new bad boy. _Was_ it Hannah? You usually stay up in your room all day and there's no sign of life."

"Yeah, you don't *munch* have dinner with us anymore and sometimes *munch* you don't even talk to us for the whole day! Dude, *munch*, you're messed up." Jason whined while munching on the seeds.

Nate looked like he was about to swear at them all, but he kept a stony silence as he glared at the wall.

Jason and Shane exchanged glances. "Then it's final," Shane declared. "You're going to Camp Rock."

Nate whipped around to face them. "WHAT THE HELL! You can't do that to me!"

Jason laughed. "Yes, we can! Shane and I called Brown hours ago! We're all going to go and I'm going to make a birdhouse!" He smiled giddily.

"We and the world can't tolerate your behavior. You have two hours to pack your bags. Then we're leaving." Shane said, his voice strict.

In response, Nate gave them the finger.

"See this is the behavior we can't accept. Maybe you'll meet a girl you like and learn something," Shane responded calmly.

"Like you did?" Nate scorned. "You just want to go there to see Mitchie."

"It doesn't matter! We're going, and that's final. You'll have to learn the hard way like I did. Now go."


	3. Package Deals

Alex grunted as she lifted her giant, heavy suitcase out of the trunk. She set it down carefully, and and slammed the trunk shut.

"Hope you have fun, sweetie! We'll write you letters!" Theresa Russo smiled cheerfully and waved.

"You wish!" Alex replied, glaring. Suddenly she sugar-smiled. "Bye mom! Good luck dealing with Justin and Max with me not around!"

Her mother groaned at the thought. "Don't even remind me. Bye, Alex!" Theresa blew a kiss, waved, and drove away.

Alex sighed as she surveyed the wilderness of squashy green stuff and trees- not to mention bugs. She spent a long while searching for her cabin, towing her suitcase around. By miracle, Alex finally located Cabin A4 and unloaded her bag, simply by plopping everything on her bed. She glanced at the two beds across from it, wondering who her lucky roommate was.

Stepping outside, she first heard a small buzz. It grew louder, and she had a suspicious feeling that something was hovering beside her ear. Too late, Alex realized that it was a blood-greedy mosquito. Itching at the bite, Alex whined in her head. _Great. This'll be real fun. _

* * *

The limo lurched to a stop at Shane's command. "Get out, dude." Shane said, looking towards Nate.

"What? You can't make me get out in the midst of squashy green stuff and trees!" Nate complained.

The chauffeur opened the door and handed Nate his luggage. "No!" Nate refused.

"Okay dude, hard way now!" Shane and Jason shoved Nate out of the limo. "Have a nice time!"

Nate landed eagle-spread on his back on the ground. He jumped up, straightened his shirt, dusted the dirt of his jeans, and glared at the limo as it sped away.

Lugging his luggage, **(hmm... maybe this is why they call it _lug_gage?) **Nate made his way through the forest, following orange guitar-shaped symbols on trees. And then he found himself on a stage infront of a giant lake. Not a good choice.

"OMG! That's-"

"It's totally him! OMGOMGOMG! IT'S NATE GREY! *swoons*"

"Nate Nate Nate! Marry me!"

"You're so hot, Nate!"

"He is soooo cute!"

"Autograph my face, Nate!"

"Sing us something!"

"Nate. Nate! NATE. NATE! MARRY ME OR HAVE YOUR BROTHERS MARRY ME I DON'T CARE YOU GUYS ARE SO HOT!"

Nate broke out running, and his insane fangirls started chasing him. "I hate you..." Nate muttered darkly, thinking of his brothers.

* * *

Alex glimpsed the mass of screaming girls for a second before deciding it was a good time to take out her iPod. As soon as a song was blaring, she made her way towards what looked like (and what she hoped) was a group of people that didn't obsess over what those girls were obsessing over. A brown haired girl with bangs noticed that Alex was heading in their direction. She looked slightly familiar...

The girl extended her hand.

"Hi, I'm Mitchie Torres. Short for Miciella, but I'll kill you if you call me that." She greeted with a friendly smile.

_Oh, she's that girl from the magazine that is dating Shane Gray. Ah. _"Hey, I'm Alex Russo. Short for Alexandra, but I'll kill you if you call me that." Alex shook hands with Mitchie.

"This is Ella."

A short black haired girl grinned. "Hi, Alex!" She said, hyper and bubbly.

"Tess, Peggy, Lola-" Mitchie said, pointing to them.

A pretty blond girl and and two taller girls waved.

"And this is Caitlyn."

Caitlyn smiled. "Camper today, music producer tomorrow."

Then, a tall brunette wearing a silver gshirt with skinny black jeans and heels strutted over. Another girl trailed behind her. An overwhelming stench of perfume hit everyone like a... tsunami. The brunette's hair was obviously straightened, and she wore mascara, eyeliner, lip gloss, and silver shades of eyeshadow.

Disdainfully, she looked at everyone's clothes and accessories with a wrinkled nose, showing distaste. "I'm Candice Evans," she said snobbily. "Not signing autographs right now. Sorry." Candice inspected her nails.

Alex looked at Mitchie. "Huge ego bigger than Alaska," Alex whispered into Mitchie's ear while Mitch nodded in agreement.

The second girl was at average height, with long butter blonde curls and clear blue eyes. She, in contrast, wore little make up and was not drenched in perfume. She had heard to Alex's comment. "Sorry for her attitude. She's just sort of spoiled," the girl whispered, leaning over.

"I'm Serena," Serena smiled uncertainly. "We're," she indicated her and Candice, "both new this year."

Ella smiled at Serena warmly. She seemed nice enough by Ella's standards. "Welcome to the group, Serena!"

Serena coughed as Candice raised an eyebrow.

"And Candice!" Mitchie stated, laughing nervously.

Alex looked at her new group of friends. She felt suprisingly happy. _I think I might actually start liking this place._


	4. Born for Drama

**~And so the hate begins...~**

**~Thanks to:**

skyeberry, IfIJumpOutTheRoofWouldYouCare?, xXHeyMondayXx, A Forgotten Fairy. .AKA- Fairy, and maria08bernal

**for your reviews and support! And enjoy.~**

Nate woke up frowning. He didn't get much sleep last night, as the mattress in his small cabin was not the same as his down-stuffed one at home. The blankets were uncomfortable compared to the silk sheets he normally slept under. The air conditioner made funny noises sometimes. And this kid-sized bed was way too small for him.

In the morning on the first day of camp, Nate could already list five billion things he hated.

* * *

Alex woke up smiling. She didn't get much sleep last night, but that was due to the fact that she, Mitchie, and Caitlyn (her lucky roommates) stayed up so late that it was almost early talking and laughing.

In the morning on the first day of camp, Alex could already list five billion things she loved. Maybe camp wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

Nate, wearing giant sunglasses and a rainbow afro (his disguise) walked into the cafeteria and surveyed the scene. His brothers were sitting at a table near where all the food was. With them was Mitchie, Ella, Caitlyn, Tess, Peggy, and three other girls. And they were _hot._

He smiled and sat down, taking off his wig and sunglasses. "Hey," he annouced.

"I'm Candice Evans. Don't ask me to sing." The tall brunette shot him a look of interest. Nate wondered what she was here for if she couldn't sing.

"She's a dancer," Mitchie explained.

Candice glared in Mitchie's direction. "I'm not _a_ dancer," she said snobbily. "I'm _the _best dancer you'll ever have the fortune to see.."

"Stuck up much?" Shane whispered into Mitchie's ear. Mitchie giggled slightly.

"She's Serena," Mitchie pointed at Serena, who waved politely and continued to eat her toast.

"And that's Alex." Alex chewed her bagel and nodded.

Nate smirked and winked at Alex. "Was that an earthquake, or did you just rock my world?" He flirted cheesily.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Don't even try to flirt with me."

Their table was watching them, amused.

"Well, you're hot."

Alex narrowed her eyes. "My _face_ is up here, weirdo. And what was with your ridiculous getup?" She folded her arms across her chest.

Nate was furious. Who did she think she was? He was Nate Gray, international superstar. And this girl was some loser nobody. "Well at least I'm not the one who's FAT!" He said loudly shoving the sunglasses and afro away.

By now, the whole cafeteria was watching them.

Alex glared at him and stood up with her tray. No matter who you are, you _never_ call a girl fat. "Are you a sweater set?"

Nate scowled back at her and stood up. "No, I'm not."

"Because you just met your _match!" _She shot at him, stepping towards him with her tray.

"Keep talking, and _someday_ you'll say something intelligent!" Nate dissed back and he stepped closer to her.

Everybody else watched with rapt interest, heads and eyes moving back and forth like they were watching a ping pong game.

"Well calling _you_ stupid would be an insult to stupid people." Alex said, even louder than before, inching towards Nate.

"Why don't you go _fuck_ yourself since no one else will!" Nate yelled at her, he took a giant step towards Alex.

"That was low..." Mitchie whispered.

Nate and Alex were only centimeters apart.

Alex glowered at him. "Well, why don't you put a condom on your head because if you're gonna act like a dick you might as well dress like ONE!" She screamed. In one swift motion, Alex dumped her tray of fruit on Nate's face.

Someone in the back corner laughed.

"I HATE YOU!**" **Nate roared at her, fruit dribbling down the side of his face.

"WELL NEWS FLASH, GRAY: I _HATE YOU TOO!" _And with that, Alex turned on her heel and left the cafeteria in a huff.

But not before Nate successfully lobbed cream cheese bagel into her hair. And then, he strode out of the cafeteria from the opposite exit, steaming.

Everbody was hushed as they watched the two leave.

"Dramatic, aren't they?" Shane broke the silence.

"They were born for theater," Mitchie agreed.


	5. Overreacting

Nate sighed. He really _did _have an uncontrollable desire to win. He didn't hate Alex, he just merely was angered by her words. Besides, he liked feisty!

he best way to make her angry was to not do what she wanted. And what she wanted was to have him ignore her. That wasn't going to happen.

He took out his cellphone and dialed Brown's number.

The cellphone flashed. NO SERVICE.

Nate grumbled. How he hated this stupid place. "Brown!" Nate barged into his Uncle's cabin.

Brown looked up, expecting trouble. "What is up, my nephew?"

"What classes are Alexandra Margarita Russo taking!" It was meant to be a question, but the sentence came out like a command.

"Uh, let me see..." Brown slid his rolling chair to a cabinet of files. "R... R... Russo... Alexan- AHA! She is taking drama and vocal."

"Switch my instrument class to drama." Another command.

"Oh," Brown sighed knowingly while writing something down. "Young love... I met her before, she'll be a very good influence on you. Okay, you can go now. Paris will know you're going to be there."

"I don't like her!" Nate protested as he exited the cabin. "Far from it..." He muttered.

The only thing that ran through Alex's mind as she walked into the camp's newly built theater was I HATE NATE, I HATE NATE, I HATE NATE!

She put her tote bag down and sat in a auditorium chair as she waited for the instructor and the rest of the campers to file in. After some other campers, Serena walked in, smiling and surprised to see Alex.

"Hi, Alex!" Serena sat down next to her happily.

"Hey."

Finally, the instructor arrived.

The teacher looked at her class and smiled. "Hi. I'm Paris, and as you have figured, I am your instructor for drama." She paused.

Alex was surprised. Paris looked young, chic, and fresh. Not the old granny-like lady (think Ms. Darbus from High School Musical) she had expected.

"Three years ago, I was a camper here. In the previous two years, I was an assistant counselor here. Now, I am your instructor. And no, I am not an old granny in disguise," Paris introduced, which earned a laugh from the students.

"This is a new class this year, so we are trying things out. We are going to put on a musical and-" Paris was abruptly cut off.

Nate walked in. "Sorry I'm late, Paris!"

Alex rolled her eyes.

"Oh, Nate. We were just talking about what we were going to do this summer. Take a seat."

Nate chose the seat next to Alex. "Hey," Nate smirked.

Alex turned her back to him, annoyed, and focused on what Paris was saying.

"The musical was written by me,"

There was some scattered applause for the teacher.

"Oh thanks! Um, the dances will be choreographed by the dance classes, the costumes and scenery will be made by the art classes, and the songs will be written by the vocal classes. The orchestra will be the instrument classes. Now, since most of you are taking two classes, you will most likely be in one of these classes. But beware, if you are in the musical, you will _not_ be able to participate in the Final Jam. If you still want to be in the musical and in this class, you may be on the backstage crew. Is this clear?"

"Yes, Paris." Everyone responded.

"Now, who wants to be on the backstage crew? Raise your hand, please."

A small portion the class raised their hands.

"Alright, then that means... okay." Paris thought out loud, doing the math in her head. "The musical's theme and plot and characters are already established. It is a romantic musical. There will be four _main _leads, although there are many leads. The first main lead is Prince Nicholas. The second main lead is Selena. The third main lead is Princess Rosalind.. The fourth is the narrator."

"Rosalind and Nick are childhood best friends. As they grow up, she loves him but he only thinks of her as a friend. Nick meets Selena, and it's true love. But everybody is like, no way! Because Selena is a commoner and Nick is royalty. They all want him to marry Rosalind. But in the end it's happily ever after. By the way, there are kisses between Selena and Nick, but whoever I cast will most likely be up to it."

Paris tried to gauge everybody's reactions. "Sort of cheesy and cliche, but whatever."

Paris glanced at her watch.

"Now, since we have about an hour or so left, I was thinking we'd hold auditions today. Of course, unless some people want to prepare somehow... Are you people up to it?"

Campers nodded, and "yeah" was heard around the theater.

"Okay then! I would like everyone to go up to the stage and one by one sing parts of any one of your favorite songs. If you do not, well, then you probably won't have a lead."

* * *

Once Upon A Life CAST LIST:

NARRATOR Frankie Caransky

PRINCESS ROSALIND Serena Woods

PRINCE NICHOLAS Nate Gray

SELENA Alex Russo

KING EDWARD (Nicholas's Father) Jack Taylor  
QUEEN ISABELLA (Nicholas's Mother) Emily Chen  
KING JASPER (Rosalind's Father) Joey Foster  
QUEEN ALICE (Rosalind's Mother) Kristen Higgins  
CARLISLE (Selena's Father) Zac O' Conner  
ESME (Selena's Mother) Vanessa Brown  
HARPER (Selena's Best Friend) Jennifer Stonely

TOWNIE #1 Elizabeth Montgomery (Esme understudy)  
TOWNIE #2 Susan Louback (Carlisle understudy)  
TOWNIE #3 Josh Holidey (Prince Nick understudy)  
SHEEP HERDER Kevin Mets (King Edward understudy)  
MILLER Kevin Meltz (King Jasper understudy)  
MILLER'S WIFE Pearl Johnson (Queen Isabella understudy)  
ROYAL SEAMSTRESS Autumn Jones (Queen Alice understudy)  
ROYAL CHEF Kevin Mez (Narrator understudy)  
LADY IN WAITING #1 Becky Klein (Selena understudy)  
LADY IN WAITING #2 Callie Tremone (Princess Rosalind understudy)  
LADY IN WAITING #3 Jane Levenson (Harper understudy)  
ROYAL SERVANT #1 Bobby White  
ROYAL SERVANT #2 Christopher Young  
PREACHER John Reeper

TOWN COMMONERS/CASTLE PEOPLE/WEDDING ATTENDEES/ OTHER

Sierra Vienna (Townie #1 Understudy)  
Lana Doris (Townie #2 Understudy)  
Kristine Lilly (Seamstress understudy)  
Sarah Winters (Lady in Waiting understudy)  
Kirsten Zinoca (Lady in Waiting understudy)  
Lindsay Murke (Lady in Waiting understudy)  
Samantha Walsh (Miller's Wife understudy)  
Skylar Leffly  
Meghan Leffly  
Erica Greene  
Mary Brown

Jacob Gold (Townie #3 understudy)  
Jesse Anderson (Sheep Herder understudy)  
Jason Lee (Miller understudy)  
Isaac Smith (Chef understudy)  
Cole Carter (Servant understudy)  
George Thompson (Preacher understudy)  
Austin Whitt  
Aidan Jax  
Stephen Wilson

* * *

The next day, the cast list was hung up and displayed proudly on the center of the bulletin board in the cafeteria. Nate had already looked at it, registered the information, smirked, gotten breakfast, sat down at their table, and waited to see Alex and her reaction.

Finally, after Nate had conversed with Ella and Peggy for over fifteen minutes and half-finished his breakfast, Alex and her friends walked in, talking.

"Hey look!" Mitchie grinned suddenly, pointing to the bulletin board. "The cast list for your musical is up!" She ran over to the list, cleared her throat, and began to read.

"Cast List. Narrator, Frankie Caransky. Princess Rosalind, SERENA WOODS!" The group of girls squealed excitedly and jumped up and down, congratulating Serena, who was smiling serenely.

Mitchie continued. "Prince Nicholas, Nate Gray. Selena, AAAALEX RUSSO!" Caitlyn, Serena, and Mitchie began to hug Alex until they saw the venomous look in her eyes.

The yell that filled the cafeteria was probably heard in China. "WHAT! NO!" Alex screamed.

"What's wrong?" Ella asked from the table, clueless, while Nate smirked.

Alex couldn't think clearly. Paris's words came back to her, echoing in her head.

_Nick meets Selena, and it's true love. By the way, there are kisses between Selena and Nick..._

No no no no no! Not Nate, anyone but Nate! Why, why, wh-

"You're a lucky one. Not everyone gets a taste of my infamous lips!" Nate's obnoxious voice sliced through Alex's head. Nate puckered his lips mockingly. "Especially people like you, who aren't worthy."

Alex's rage surged through. Everything was too much. "Jerk!" She yelled. And slapped him. Hard.


	6. Romance? Nah

It was Friday, two days after the cast list had been put up. Alex, Nate, Serena and others had received the script, and they had started reading aloud. The vocal instructor had paired Nate up with Alex to write their duet for the musical (much to their both of their disliking), and Ella, Peggy, Tess, and others started to write the opening piece. Mitchie and Serena worked together on Serena's solo. Right after the vocal instructor dismissed them, Alex, Mitchie, and Serena had gone outside for a stroll.

After a while, Mitchie and Serena had headed back to their cabin so they could prepare for the Campfire Jam.

"Seeya soon, Alex!" Mitchie farewelled, as Alex headed out towards the canoe area.

* * *

Alex watched the lake water ripple peacefully for awhile, and then reached into a small bag that she carried around. Taking out the sheet music for Nick's and Selena's duet, she began to study everything the two had messily jotted down earlier in the day.

Nate, who had been sitting opposite from where the mystery person now was, had shuffled into the woods once he had heard someone approach. He peeked out, and smirked. Alex's head of curly dark hair was bent over a sheet of paper.

_"If time_

_Was still"_

He listened to her voice, surprised at the sweetness of the notes that her melody carried through, admiring the sound. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a little folded piece of paper and unfolded it, reading it over.

_"The sun_

_Would never ever..."_

Alex paused for a moment, pursed her lips, and erased a note and scribbled down another.

_"The sun," _She smiled, content at how it sounded.

_"Would never never find us,_

_We could light up-"_

_"The sky"_

Alex gasped, wide-eyed, as Nate appeared from behind a few trees, holding his copy of the music, and sang his part of the duet. He smiled a genuine smile at her, and continued.

_"Tonight_

_I_

_Would see the world through your eyes..." _Nate walked towards Alex, while singing.

_"Leave it all_

_Behind" _He gestured at her to start the chorus.

She smiled back at him. _"If it's..."_

He joined in harmony.

_"You and me forever_

_If it's you and me right now_

_That'd be alright_

_Be alright..._

_We're chasing stars to lose our shadows_

_Peter Pan and Wendy turned out fine_

_So won't you fly..."_

Nate was now sitting next to Alex on the rock, and they both took a deep breath.

_"With me"_

A dazed silence followed, full of awe from both sides.

"You're a really good singer, you know that?" Nate grinned at Alex, sliding closer to her.

Alex blushed, shy, and looked away. "Thanks. But you know, you're better."

He gazed at her, and gently pulled her face towards his with two fingers. "Well I think you're wonderful."

And just at that moment, when Alex's eyes met with his, those brown eyes with green and gold flecks, she thought she saw something. Something other than the asshole Nate that she had met before. Something... kind, warm, sincere, and also something... hot.

Alex flushed deeper red, and shook her head out. No, no way was she going to think like that. He's the enemy, remember? A jerk? Just a little flicker of kindess isn't going to change him.

"Uh, well," Alex turned back to the music to hide her blush. "We'd better get started on the rest of the song."

And for the rest of the afternoon, until the sky turned a deep shade of purple, they talked and laughed and smiled and ultimately finished their song. They didn't even notice the bonfire a small distance away, the noisy crowd, or how hungry they were.

Alex was falling for Nate, slowly, as was he. The only difference was that he knew it, and she didn't.

* * *

Alex threw her belongings across the room after barging into the cabin, ignoring words of concern from her friends.

She seemed angry, distraught, torn, but mainly... confused. However, that didn't change the fact she was ripping a blank piece of paper into shreds.

Mitchie cautiously made her way towards Alex, warning the other girls to stay back. "What's the problem, Alex?"

Alex counted to ten, calming down. "I'm so confused!"

"What?"

"I HATE NATHANIEL JERRY GREY!"

"Oh no," Mitchie fretted. "What did he do?"

"Well," Alex explained, "In one moment he's this total anger-management needing pig/jerk, and then he's tolerable, and then he's a jerk again but then he switches back into kind and nice mode!" Alex drew a breath. "And I don't know what to do! It's like he's bipolar, or something."

"Oh, your poor baby," Mitchie cooed and patted Alex's back. "So _that's _what kept you so occupied that you couldn't even bother to come watch Candice, Serena, and I perform at the Campfire Jam!" Mitchie's sympathetic eyes suddenly turned on fire.

Alex's eyes widened, shocked. "Omigosh, I am so so so so sorry! I didn't realize, the time went by so fast, and I-"

Serena smiled at Alex. "It's fine. You didn't miss out on too much, anyways."

"Yes, she _so_ did! You sang really well, and so did Mitchie-" Candice began, and stopped when everyone turned their stunned eyes on her.

"What!" Candice asked, annoyed.

"Well, you don't usually hand out compliments by the dozen, Candice," Ella offered when no one else spoke up.

Mitchie scoffed. "Way to be blunt, Ell."

"It's true!" Ella protested.

"You didn't let me get to what I was going to say!" Candice interrupted. "Anyways, Serena sang really well, and so did Mitchie, but you COMPLETELY missed out on my fabulous dancing! I mean, seriously!" Candice finished.

"Was her dancing really that good?" Alex whispered to Mitchie.

"Yes, shockingly. She may boast, but her dancing actually IS terrific," Mitchie replied. A titch too loud.

"Hey! You thought I was just bragging?" Candice cried out, half-joking. Alex giggled.

"Thanks, you guys. You really made me feel better," Alex smiled at them. "I mean, who CARES about a stupid, confusing, idiotic boy?"

But from her eyes, it was clear that _she_ cared.

"Anytime, Alex. Anytime..." Caitlyn grinned at Alex.

* * *

"Soooo, Mitchie," Tess said as she and Mitchie strolled along to their first class. Candice and Serena were trailing behind, immersed in their own conversation.

"How has your relationship with Shane been?"

"Why?" Mitchie asked, teasingly as she prodded Tess's arm. "Do you want to steal my boyfriend away?"

Tess pretended to be insulted. "I would NEVER do that, Mitchie," Tess paused for a moment, and tacked on, "Well, not anymore," as an after thought.

"But seriously, Mitch?"

"Yes?"

"How has your relationship been? I'm curious."

"Well, I don't know... it hasn't been too good. I've only really talked to him twice since I got here. We're sort of, I guess, drifting apart. It's kind of depressing." Mitchie let out a big sigh. Then she visibly perked up. "Oh well! There's this really cute guy in our first class. Max, I think?"

"Mitchie!" Tess scolded, swatting Mitchie on the arm while laughing.

"Just kidding!" Mitchie flashed a quick grin. "But really, I _do _hope it gets better."

Tess hugged Mitchie reassuringly. "I'm sure it will."


End file.
